Parashat VaEira

In the Torah portion Shemot Moses received his mission to go to Pharaoh and demand that he free the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, and then to lead them to the Promised Land of Canaan. However, there is a big difference between receiving a mission and putting it into action. In our portion, VaEira, begins the long and difficult process of actualizing God’s command. All this, of course, is well known to us from our annual rehearsal of the Passover Haggadah story in which God puts pressure upon Pharaoh by means of the Ten Plagues.

In Parashat VaEira the first seven plagues make their appearance: Blood, Frogs, Lice, Insects, Cattle Disease, Boils and Hail. With the first two plagues Moses and Aaron turn the Nile’s blood red and then makes frogs swarm from its banks. But, Pharaoh’s sorcerers do the same thing. Yet, when it comes to the third plague ― Lice ― the situation takes a turn and the sorcerers were not able to create the lice nor remove them from humans or beasts (Exodus 8:12-15). And so they admitted, “This is surely the finger of God!” (Exodus 8:15).

The sorcerers were the scientists of Egypt and of the ancient world; there was no differentiation between “science” and “magic.” In the Babylonian Talmud it says (Kidd. 49b) “Ten measures of magic descended upon the world and Egypt took nine of them…”. If, indeed, there was no difference between science and magic in the ancient world, then this passage from the Talmud suggests that in the view of the ancients, Egypt was recognized as a center of science and a leader in scientific achievements (even though here it is clearly given a negative connotation). What the sorcerers are revealing here, before Moses and Aaron, are the limitations of their abilities ― of the limits of human power over the forces of nature.

The Ramban (Nachmanides, and other commentators) makes the following remarks in regards to the words of the sorcerers: “The finger of God ― this makes it clear that this was not done by Aaron on behalf of the Israelites. It could only be a blow brought by God…” thus the sorcerers admitted that the plagues were acts of God and not brought about by human means through magic. And, despite the fact that the plagues were “miracles” and wrought “by the finger of God,” they were essentially forces of nature.

1) What did Pharaoh and his sorcerers think when Moses and Aaron performed the first of the plagues? What might have made them think the way that they did?

2) In our commentary we spoke of “miracles” and “forces of nature” to explain the plagues, from a modern perspective, how might we characterize the plagues described in the Torah?

3) In the commentary above there is the theme of the limitations of science and the ability of human beings to control the forces of nature. Do you agree? What is the significance and relevance of this theme in today’s world? In what areas might it be most relevant?